§ The Minister for Citizenship and Immigratibn (Mr. Desmond Browne)On the evening of 19 July there was a serious disturbance at Harmondsworth immigration removal centre.
At about 8 pm staff found a detainee hanging in a shower-room at the centre. At about 11 pm a number of detainees became disruptive and started to set a number 44WS of fires in the communal areas. These fires were put out by the newly installed fire protection system. The police and fire services were called to the scene.
The disturbance continued and became more serious. Staff from UKDS, the company managing the centre under contract from the Home Office, withdrew from the association areas. Standing arrangements in the Prison Service for dealing with serious incidents were activated, and by midnight the Gold Command Suite at Prison Service headquarters was in operation. By 4 am on 20 July the Prison Service Operation Tornado teams went into the centre. By 8 am three of the four house blocks were under Prison Service control. The fourth came under control a little later in the morning, and by 2 pm all parts of the centre were calm.
The Centre is, for the time being, unsuitable for use. The 441 detainees who were there at the time of the disturbance are being removed to other accommodation, and we are in the final stages of dispersing them across a range of sites, including the IND removal estate and prison establishments while a small number have been taken into police custody. No detainees have been released. An assessment of the damage is being made with UKDS, and the centre will be reopened as quickly as possible. In the meantime, alternative arrangements are being made for the handling in particular of those detainees whose asylum claims were being dealt with under the fast track.
This was a serious disturbance, and I pay tribute to all those who responded quickly and succeeded in restoring order. It is important to note that the disturbance did not lead to loss of life or serious injury. No detainees escaped, and the measures which had been taken to prevent a recurrence of the fire at Yarl's Wood Centre proved successful. We are determined that the centre be restored to full use as soon as possible.
The tragic death of the detainee earlier in the evening of 19 July will be the subject of a full investigation by the Prison and Probation Ombudsman. The police are conducting a criminal investigation into the events themselves. There are also likely to be managerial lessons to be learned and I have instigated an immediate investigation, the terms of reference of which will be: to establish the facts of the events at Harmondsworth on the evening of 19 July and the morning of 20 July; to consider the factors which may have given rise to the disturbance and the effectiveness of the measures which were taken to deal with it; and to make recommendations.